GOP Congressman Rips Tea Party Colleagues: 'I'm Not Sure They're Republicans'

[cali]

In a sign of the internal backlash against the right wing of the House Republican Conference, Louisiana Republican Charles Boustany questioned the political allegiances and motivations of his tea party-aligned colleagues and said they had put the GOP majority at risk in the current shutdown fight.

"There are members with a different agenda," Boustany said Wednesday in an interview in his office. "And I'm not sure they're Republicans and I'm not sure they're conservative."

His comments came a day after rank-and-file House Republicans rejected a package to reopen the government authored by their own leader, Speaker John Boehner. The result is that a bipartisan Senate-authored deal to end the two-week government shutdown appears poised to pass with almost nothing of substance gained by House conservatives for the shutdown they precipitated.

"The speaker has said consistently unless we can put 218 votes up, and preferably more than that, our ability to negotiate is pretty much undermined and that's the problem we've repeatedly found ourselves in," said Boustany, who has served since 2005 and is a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee. "Look at payroll tax. Look at fiscal cliff. You can go on and on. There are a handful of members – the numbers sort of vary, it's in the 20-30 range – that are enough to derail a Republican conservative agenda in the House."

<snip>

Only a handful of House Republicans have spoken out publicly against the hardline faction of the House GOP, but Boustany said the shutdown had grown their numbers. "There is a very large silent majority that's getting frustrated with what's happening because of what these outside groups have done by setting false expectations, deliberately misleading the public on some of these issues and commanding allegiance of certain members who falsely place their allegiance to these groups rather than to their constitutional responsibility to govern," he said.

<snip>

http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/gop-congressman-rips-tea-party-colleagues-i-m-not-sure-they-re-republicans-20131016

[Squinch]

1. It's always a sad moment when Frankenstein's monster turns on him.

Bahahahahah!!!

Ahem... no, seriously...it's tragic for them....

[cali]

4. *snicker*

right, tragic.

[ailsagirl]

2. They've transmogrified

transmogrify: to change in appearance or form, especially strangely or grotesquely



dictionary.com

[Southside]

5. Nice, I picked up sanguine over here too.

DU is improving my grammar and vocabulary.

Get you house in order Republicans, or we will.

[ailsagirl]

6. Dems are more educated and just plain smarter

[Southside]

3. Watch out GOP Rep Boustany, the Tea Party runs deep in Louisiana

They are coming for you, but you re doing the right thing . You guys better fight back and expose these Tea Party nuts now. Koch brothers, Freedom Works, Heritage, Palin and their disciples need to be stopped. They are slashing and burning their own to come after Obama. Wake up Republicans you have a virus in your midst. Fight back conservatives.

[Buddaman]

7. Just say it already!

<snip>

"setting false expectations, deliberately misleading the public on some of these issues"

<snip>

They fuckin' lie.......